Rucker, California

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About halfway along the five miles of Monterey Highway between Gilroy, California and San Martin is the historic district of Rucker. The name is official but not in common use among locals today. ^[1] Its official elevation is listed as 235 feet above mean sea level (AMSL) and official NAD27 coordinates are given as 37°03′15″N, 121°35′28″W.^[2] Supporting the name are a street named Rucker Avenue, Rucker School (K-6), and Rucker Creek: geographic features in the same area. ^[3] The name is historic and probably commemorative: almost no one refers to this area as Rucker today. The community was part of the Mexican Land Grant called San Francisco de las Llagas. ^[4]

References corroborate use of the name in 1933 to describe a siding on what is now the Union Pacific Railroad, Coast Subdivision. ^[5] It still appears on modern maps. ^[6] ^[7]

The community is inside Area code 408 and default wired telephone service comes from the Verizon Gilroy exchange.

At the southern edge of the San Jose metropolitan area, the community is gradually being developed. The area has historically been agricultural with many present-day area homes having an acre of land or more and horses. Homes often include mature trees and primitive barbed-wire fences. Area crops include turf, alfalfa and other irrigated row crops.

[edit] References

^ Map: "Gilroy, California 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, 1985" U.S. Geological Survey.
^ U.S. Geological Survey, National Geographic Names Database.
^ Map: "Map of Southern Santa Clara County," (San Jose, California: Regal Map Company, 1967).
^ Map: "Gilroy, California 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, 1985" U.S. Geological Survey.
^ Holmes, Norman W., Prune Country Railroading: Steel Rails to San Jose, (Huntington Beach, California: Shade Tree Books, 1995), pp.135.
^ California Region Timetable: 14, (Modesto, California: Altamont Press, 2003).
^ Map: "Gilroy, California 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, 1985" U.S. Geological Survey.